A Survey of the Practice of Thoracic Anesthesia in India

The aim of the survey was to understand the contemporary thoracic anesthesia practice in India.

A prospective questionnaire-based survey.

The survey was conducted at the Annual Conference of the Indian Association of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Anesthesiologists 2018 (IACTACON-2018). After the conference, the questionnaire was distributed again to the conference participants electronically to increase the response rate.

Anesthesiologists from India attending IACTACON-2018.

Hard copies of a validated questionnaire (n = 430) were distributed among Indian anesthesiologists attending IACTACON 2018. The questionnaire included 17 questions pertaining to preanesthesia checkup, lung isolation devices, intraoperative management, postoperative analgesia, and infrastructure available at their institutions. Following the conference, the survey was continued online by sending the link of the online survey to all registered participants (n = 421) from India, taking care to avoid duplication of responses. Collected data were analyzed using frequency distributions and chi-square tests.

Total responses were 166 (110 hardcopies and 56 online responses) of 430, with the response rate being 38.6%. A double-lumen tube (DLT) was the most commonly preferred for lung isolation (160/166: 96.4%). Nearly 55% of anesthesiologists preferred auscultation for confirmation of DLT, as 38% of anesthesiologists reported unavailability of the pediatric bronchoscope. Nearly 80% of anesthesiologists were compliant with the principles of protective one-lung ventilation. Preference for inhalation anesthetic agents during one-lung ventilation, use of restrictive intravenous fluids, and regional blocks for postoperative analgesia commonly were followed by the Indian anesthesiologists.

Despite the challenges offered by limited resources, the practice of thoracic anesthesia in India is at par with the standards followed across the world.